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Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International. |
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Just Keep Praying
At
the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it,
for you are treasured by God.1 A beloved movie in my home is the Disney
Classic “Finding Nemo”; a fish story of a father’s journey to find his son
and all the perils he encounters along the way. On his adventure, the worrisome
clownfish meets a friendly blue fish who suffers from short-term memory loss
which allows her to live without worry. As their journey becomes hopeless, the
care-free little tang approaches the depressed father and says encouragingly, “When
life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep
swimming!” But when swimming is all you’ve been doing for the last weeks,
months, or even years, what you would really like is a change; a way out; an
answer! In Babylon, Daniel was feeling a little
like a fretful clownfish. He had been praying, and praying, and praying some
more over the Israelites who were in exile, and also for the king and his
visions. People depended on Daniel and his communication with the Lord; he was
their voice of hope. I’m sure that made him a little stressed out! In Daniel
chapter 9, he covered himself with sackcloth and ashes and began to pray, then
plead, then finally beg, “Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act!”
(v. 19) Daniel was extremely tired, and disheartened when the angel Gabriel
appeared to him telling him that his prayer had been answered from the moment
he had first begun his prayer! Many times we are so tired of swimming
through life feeling as though our prayers aren’t being heard, when the
reality is that God is listening. He sees our desperation, but He’s waiting
for us to ‘purpose in our hearts to be understanding and to humble ourselves
before our God’ (Dan. 10:12) to send us an answer. God has given us our own
little blue fish in the form of the Holy Spirit to remind us and encourage us
every step of the way " Just keep praying! Just keep praying!
Ah,
Lord"the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those
who love him and keep his commands… Lord,
righteousness belongs to you… (Dan. 9:4,7) Thank
you for being forgiving. Teach me to be humble so that I can understand the
blessings you have in store for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 1. Daniel 9:23a (CSB). Today’s Encounter
was written by: Veronica B. |
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